Asked by: Ellie Reeves (Labour - Lewisham West and Penge)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to stop women being sent to prison for non-violent crimes.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
As set out in the 2018 Female Offender Strategy, the Government is committed to ensure more women are managed successfully in the community and that fewer women go to prison, particularly on short sentences.
We are investing tens of millions of pounds over the next three years into community services for women, drug rehabilitation and accommodation support, so fewer women end up in prison. We will open the first Residential Women’s Centre (RWC), in Swansea, which will offer an intensive residential support package in the community for women at risk of short custodial sentences. Under powers in the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022, we will pilot Problem-Solving Courts targeting specific cohorts with underlying needs, including one pilot exclusively for female offenders, to provide robust community sentences as a more effective alternative to custody where appropriate.
In addition, we have launched a Pre-Sentence Report (PSR) pilot in 15 magistrates’ courts to evaluate how higher quality and more timely PSRs can best inform sentencers’ decisions in relation to female offenders (and other groups).
We will publish a Delivery Plan for the Female Offender Strategy later this summer. This will set out our ambitious cross-Government approach for the next three years.
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the report by Hibiscus Initiatives and others, entitled Tackling double disadvantage, published on 22 January 2022.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The recommendations included in the "Tackling Double Disadvantage” report are being considered by the Female Offender Minority Ethnic working group established by the Ministry of Justice.
Collecting data allows us to monitor the prevalence of violence against women and girls amongst different groups and further integrate a diverse range of victim experiences into conversations and policy decisions. The Home Office is committed to establishing a data collection on offences where the crime has been motivated by a hostility to the victim’s sex, with discussions with police forces ongoing. A voluntary collection on the ethnicity of victims of all crime began on 1st April this year. Together, these collections will allow us to assess gender-based violence by ethnicity.
The Home Office does not collect information on whether a victim or perpetrator of crime was a migrant or not.
In July 2021, we published our cross-Government Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Strategy and on 30th March published the Tackling Domestic Abuse Plan. For the first time, our Strategy and Plan were shaped by the public’s views – we ran a national Call for Evidence on Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls which received an unprecedented 180,000 responses. We actively sought input from underrepresented groups and held focus groups to ensure that we heard the perspectives of people from ethnic minority backgrounds and refugee and migrant women expert service providers. In the Tackling VAWG Strategy, we committed to working with the Office for National Statistics to review current available data on violence against women and girls and identify the priorities for data improvement.
The report states its aim to improve outcomes and reduce inequalities for ethnic minority and migrant women in contact with the criminal justice system. We agree it is vital that police officers and criminal justice staff have the right competences and values, and an understanding, especially when dealing with the most vulnerable in our society. The College of Policing’s foundation training for all those entering the service includes substantial coverage of police ethics and self-understanding, including the effects of personal conscious and unconscious bias. The initial training undertaken by all officers also covers hate crimes, ethics and equalities, and policing without bias. In addition, the College of Policing have developed specialist domestic abuse training, the Domestic Abuse Matters programme, which has been, or is in the process of being delivered for, the majority of forces (32 Home Office forces have either completed the training, are currently in process of, or are mobilising). The first responders training makes covers dealing with the specific vulnerabilities of different victims.
The new full-time National Policing Lead for Violence Against Women and Girls, DCC Maggie Blyth, has included building trust and confidence as a key pillar of the Policing VAWG National Framework for delivery. This includes working with charities supporting ethnic minority and migrant women and girls to avoid their specific needs being overlooked.
Asked by: Lord Bradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many (1) males, and (2) females, who are currently serving prison sentences in England and Wales are over the age of 80.
Answered by Lord Wolfson of Tredegar
As of 31 December 2021, there were 329 sentenced male prisoners and 2 sentenced female prisoners aged 80 or over in England and Wales.
These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large-scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 26 January 2022 to Question 109322 on Prisoners' Release: Females, whether he has a targets to reduce the proportion of women recorded as being homeless or rough sleeping at the point of release.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Our Prisons Strategy White Paper sets out our vision that no-one subject to probation supervision is released from prison homeless. By 2024-25 we will spend £200 million a year to reduce reoffending, including expanding the transitional accommodation service across England and Wales to support those leaving prison without accommodation.
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) launched their Accommodation for Ex-Offenders (AFEO) scheme on 28 July 2021 to support offenders at risk of homelessness into private rental tenancies. Overall, this financial year, £13 million has been allocated to 87 schemes across 145 local authorities. Combined with our temporary accommodation service, this builds a pathway from prison to settled accommodation.
Our Female Offender Strategy (2018) committed to pilot Residential Women’s Centres, offering an intensive, rehabilitative residential support package in the community for women at risk of short custodial sentences and move-on to settled accommodation. Our first Residential Women’s Centre will be located in Wales.
The HM Prisons and Probation Service Target Operating Model for probation services in England and Wales, published in February 2021, included a target on the number of individuals being housed on release from custody (90%). There is an additional metric concerning settled accommodation for all supervised individuals (those released from prison and those on community sentences) three months after commencement of their supervision (80%). These targets are the same for both male and female offenders.
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many women entered prison between June 2020 and June 2021 to serve a sentence of (a) less than one month, (b) 2 to 3 months, (c) 4 to 6 months, (d) 7 to 12 months, (e) 13 to 24 months and (f) over 24 months.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The information requested is provided in the attached table.
Sentencing is a matter for the independent judiciary. The Female Offender Strategy set out the Government’s vision of fewer women offending and reoffending; fewer women in custody, especially on short-term sentences, with a greater proportion of women managed in the community successfully; and where prison is necessary, better conditions for those in custody.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Gloucester (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many women aged (1) 18 to 24, and (2) 25 and above, went to prison in each of the last 10 years; what was the sentence length in each case; and what type of offence was committed.
Answered by Lord Wolfson of Tredegar
The attached tables show data on the numbers of women convicted by offence type and the length of sentence from 2011 to 2020 for those aged 18 to 24 and above 25 years of age.
The Female Offender Strategy set out the Government’s vision of fewer women offending and reoffending; fewer women in custody, especially on short-term sentences, with a greater proportion of women managed in the community successfully; and where prison is necessary, better conditions for those in custody.
Asked by: Baroness Whitaker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the total number of unreleased Imprisonment for Public Protection prisoners in (1) Category A, (2) Category B, (3) Category C, and (4) Category D; and how many years are left on their tariff in each case.
Answered by Lord Wolfson of Tredegar
The Government is committed to the protection of the public and the effective management of offenders. By law, prisoners serving indeterminate sentences who have completed their tariff will be released only when the independent Parole Board concludes that the risk they present to the public is capable of being safely managed in the community under probation supervision.
The following two tables show the number of unreleased prisoners serving an IPP sentence at 31 March 2021, by gender, ethnicity and the number of years to their tariff expiry, in England and Wales. The total number of IPP prisoners recorded in these two tables is 1,784.
Table 1
Gender | Number (Row Total) | Less than 1 year | 1 year to less than 2 years | 2 year to less than 3 years | 3 year to less than 4 years | 4 year to less than 5 years | 5 or more years | Tariff expired | Tariff unavailable |
Male | 1,761 | 24 | 22 | 13 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 1,682 | 2 |
Female | 23 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 23 | 0 |
Table 2
Ethnicity | Number (Row Total) | Less than 1 year | 1 year to less than 2 years | 2 year to less than 3 years | 3 year to less than 4 years | 4 year to less than 5 years | 5 or more years | Tariff expired | Tariff unavailable |
Asian or Asian British | 92 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 83 | 0 |
Black or Black British | 229 | 7 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 208 | 0 |
Mixed | 70 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 67 | 0 |
Other ethnic group | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 |
White | 1,380 | 14 | 14 | 8 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 1,334 | 2 |
Unrecorded | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Not stated | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
The following two tables show the number of recalled prisoners serving an IPP sentence at 31 March 2021, by gender and ethnicity, in England and Wales. All recalled IPP prisoners are post tariff as it is not possible to release an IPP prisoner prior to the expiry of their minimum tariff date. The total number of IPP prisoners recorded in these two tables is 1,350.
Table 3
Gender | Number |
Male | 1,327 |
Female | 23 |
Table 4
Ethnicity | Number |
Asian or Asian British | 42 |
Black or Black British | 161 |
Mixed | 74 |
Other ethnic group/Not Stated | 4 |
White | 1,069 |
The table below shows the number of unreleased prisoners serving an IPP sentence at 31 March 2021, by security category and the number of years to their tariff expiry, in England and Wales. The total number of IPP prisoners recorded in the below table is 1,784.
Table 5
Security Category | Number (Row Total) | Less than 1 year | 1 year to less than 2 years | 2 year to less than 3 years | 3 year to less than 4 years | 4 year to less than 5 years | 5 or more years | Tariff expired | Tariff unavailable |
A | 17 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 14 | 0 |
B | 323 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 309 | 0 |
C | 871 | 7 | 13 | 9 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 831 | 2 |
D | 548 | 14 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 526 | 0 |
Females (open and closed) | 23 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 23 | 0 |
Others | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
A prisoner’s individual needs in relation to offending behaviour and resettlement, or their individual circumstances (such as medical requirements) may result in an individual being held in a prison of a higher category than their own approved category. Prisoners will not be allocated to a prison of a lower security category than the security category assigned to them personally.
Notes for all figures:
Asked by: Baroness Whitaker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what they estimate to be the total number of recalled Imprisonment for Public Protection prisoners broken down by (1) gender, and (2) ethnicity; and how many years are left on their tariff in each case.
Answered by Lord Wolfson of Tredegar
The Government is committed to the protection of the public and the effective management of offenders. By law, prisoners serving indeterminate sentences who have completed their tariff will be released only when the independent Parole Board concludes that the risk they present to the public is capable of being safely managed in the community under probation supervision.
The following two tables show the number of unreleased prisoners serving an IPP sentence at 31 March 2021, by gender, ethnicity and the number of years to their tariff expiry, in England and Wales. The total number of IPP prisoners recorded in these two tables is 1,784.
Table 1
Gender | Number (Row Total) | Less than 1 year | 1 year to less than 2 years | 2 year to less than 3 years | 3 year to less than 4 years | 4 year to less than 5 years | 5 or more years | Tariff expired | Tariff unavailable |
Male | 1,761 | 24 | 22 | 13 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 1,682 | 2 |
Female | 23 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 23 | 0 |
Table 2
Ethnicity | Number (Row Total) | Less than 1 year | 1 year to less than 2 years | 2 year to less than 3 years | 3 year to less than 4 years | 4 year to less than 5 years | 5 or more years | Tariff expired | Tariff unavailable |
Asian or Asian British | 92 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 83 | 0 |
Black or Black British | 229 | 7 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 208 | 0 |
Mixed | 70 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 67 | 0 |
Other ethnic group | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 |
White | 1,380 | 14 | 14 | 8 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 1,334 | 2 |
Unrecorded | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Not stated | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
The following two tables show the number of recalled prisoners serving an IPP sentence at 31 March 2021, by gender and ethnicity, in England and Wales. All recalled IPP prisoners are post tariff as it is not possible to release an IPP prisoner prior to the expiry of their minimum tariff date. The total number of IPP prisoners recorded in these two tables is 1,350.
Table 3
Gender | Number |
Male | 1,327 |
Female | 23 |
Table 4
Ethnicity | Number |
Asian or Asian British | 42 |
Black or Black British | 161 |
Mixed | 74 |
Other ethnic group/Not Stated | 4 |
White | 1,069 |
The table below shows the number of unreleased prisoners serving an IPP sentence at 31 March 2021, by security category and the number of years to their tariff expiry, in England and Wales. The total number of IPP prisoners recorded in the below table is 1,784.
Table 5
Security Category | Number (Row Total) | Less than 1 year | 1 year to less than 2 years | 2 year to less than 3 years | 3 year to less than 4 years | 4 year to less than 5 years | 5 or more years | Tariff expired | Tariff unavailable |
A | 17 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 14 | 0 |
B | 323 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 309 | 0 |
C | 871 | 7 | 13 | 9 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 831 | 2 |
D | 548 | 14 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 526 | 0 |
Females (open and closed) | 23 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 23 | 0 |
Others | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
A prisoner’s individual needs in relation to offending behaviour and resettlement, or their individual circumstances (such as medical requirements) may result in an individual being held in a prison of a higher category than their own approved category. Prisoners will not be allocated to a prison of a lower security category than the security category assigned to them personally.
Notes for all figures:
Asked by: Baroness Whitaker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what they estimate to be the total number of unreleased Imprisonment for Public Protection prisoners broken down by (1) gender, and (2) ethnicity; and how many years are left on their tariff in each case.
Answered by Lord Wolfson of Tredegar
The Government is committed to the protection of the public and the effective management of offenders. By law, prisoners serving indeterminate sentences who have completed their tariff will be released only when the independent Parole Board concludes that the risk they present to the public is capable of being safely managed in the community under probation supervision.
The following two tables show the number of unreleased prisoners serving an IPP sentence at 31 March 2021, by gender, ethnicity and the number of years to their tariff expiry, in England and Wales. The total number of IPP prisoners recorded in these two tables is 1,784.
Table 1
Gender | Number (Row Total) | Less than 1 year | 1 year to less than 2 years | 2 year to less than 3 years | 3 year to less than 4 years | 4 year to less than 5 years | 5 or more years | Tariff expired | Tariff unavailable |
Male | 1,761 | 24 | 22 | 13 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 1,682 | 2 |
Female | 23 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 23 | 0 |
Table 2
Ethnicity | Number (Row Total) | Less than 1 year | 1 year to less than 2 years | 2 year to less than 3 years | 3 year to less than 4 years | 4 year to less than 5 years | 5 or more years | Tariff expired | Tariff unavailable |
Asian or Asian British | 92 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 83 | 0 |
Black or Black British | 229 | 7 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 208 | 0 |
Mixed | 70 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 67 | 0 |
Other ethnic group | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 |
White | 1,380 | 14 | 14 | 8 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 1,334 | 2 |
Unrecorded | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Not stated | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
The following two tables show the number of recalled prisoners serving an IPP sentence at 31 March 2021, by gender and ethnicity, in England and Wales. All recalled IPP prisoners are post tariff as it is not possible to release an IPP prisoner prior to the expiry of their minimum tariff date. The total number of IPP prisoners recorded in these two tables is 1,350.
Table 3
Gender | Number |
Male | 1,327 |
Female | 23 |
Table 4
Ethnicity | Number |
Asian or Asian British | 42 |
Black or Black British | 161 |
Mixed | 74 |
Other ethnic group/Not Stated | 4 |
White | 1,069 |
The table below shows the number of unreleased prisoners serving an IPP sentence at 31 March 2021, by security category and the number of years to their tariff expiry, in England and Wales. The total number of IPP prisoners recorded in the below table is 1,784.
Table 5
Security Category | Number (Row Total) | Less than 1 year | 1 year to less than 2 years | 2 year to less than 3 years | 3 year to less than 4 years | 4 year to less than 5 years | 5 or more years | Tariff expired | Tariff unavailable |
A | 17 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 14 | 0 |
B | 323 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 309 | 0 |
C | 871 | 7 | 13 | 9 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 831 | 2 |
D | 548 | 14 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 526 | 0 |
Females (open and closed) | 23 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 23 | 0 |
Others | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
A prisoner’s individual needs in relation to offending behaviour and resettlement, or their individual circumstances (such as medical requirements) may result in an individual being held in a prison of a higher category than their own approved category. Prisoners will not be allocated to a prison of a lower security category than the security category assigned to them personally.
Notes for all figures:
Asked by: Ellie Reeves (Labour - Lewisham West and Penge)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average length of time spent in prison by women has been since March 2020.
Answered by Alex Chalk - Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
The table below shows for each quarter the average (mean) number of months, women who were released in that quarter, served in prison including on remand.
Quarter | Jan-March 2020 | April-June 2020 | July-September 2020 | October-December 2020 |
Mean time served including remand in months | 6.6 | 8.3 | 9.1 | 8.1 |
Source: Prison releases October to December 2020, Table 3.2i.
The Female Offender Strategy (2018) committed to working towards fewer women serving short custodial sentences with a greater proportion managed successfully in the community. Our Strategy commitment to pilot residential women’s centres, with the first to be located in south Wales, is a key part of this work. We are piloting a Problem-Solving Court approach in up to five locations for certain community and suspended sentence orders. The aim of this is to support offenders who could be both prolific and vulnerable to complete their sentences in the community. Female offenders will be one area of focus given the high proportion who receive short prison sentences, building on the promising outcomes of Manchester’s women’s Problem-Solving Court.